Summer Internship – An Integral Part of Management Education

Exposure to the real world for management students is a must to get in hindsight of the expectations. Often, we don’t realize what we have incorporated in terms of knowledge and skills till the time we are made to face the real road to take on a charge. If I begin to start telling my journey of exposure gained at ICFAi Business School, it will take me longer than usual to describe the magnificently altering journey unleashed. So, I would like to talk about one of the USPs of my college, which is a 3-month extensive summer internship program. This forms our first major entry into corporate for the majority of the students. Therefore, the college ensures that students are given ample options across profiles to apply as per their interests. At IBS Gurgaon, the rigor starts showing when the companies start to come to the campus and begin with their processes which include two steps – Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI). The competitive spirit is what makes the college environment livelier. The institute ensures all its student undergoes certification course based on our preferred domain. IBS provides a variety of lists after thorough research of the industry’s needs and provides financial support to support and encourage all students to undertake the certifications. The Summer Internship Program was a gateway to enter into the corporate world filled with varied exposure, experience, knowledge, and so forth. The consistent efforts from our faculties in ensuring my growth, and development and not being stagnant were the key factors, that helped me in my retrospection on a week-on-week basis. The interaction between the faculty in charge and my company manager paved the way for my productive learning and journey toward distinction. I, nowhere in the tenure of my SIP felt unsupervised by both of my mentors.

At the initial stage of my PGPM program, I was confused about which domain specialization to opt for, whether HR or Marketing. But thanks to the 14- week SIP at IBS, which made me test my waters in finding a perfect line for my career. For any student, pivot study is important to them in terms of analysing their strengths and weaknesses. Till the moment we don’t understand the work and put in the execution of our knowledge, it gets difficult to be certain of our own choices and direction. Therefore, the 3 months of internship, were all about finding my interest and implementing the domain knowledge.

An organization provides a platform to set in action the learned skills during the first year of our course and refine the practical execution of the same. This is a very unique feature of my college which lets you gain industry insights and it’s working for 3 months before we finally make a successful career out of it, is what makes it differentiated from all other B-schools in the country. A platform of the real-world environment to experiment with all the theories and strategies learned in academics and find what best fits my observation is one of the most significant learning.

During my internship at Lava International Ltd., I learned about the work culture and clarity of thoughts about myself, by focusing on my strength, and weaknesses. Moreover, the internship offered me a vast networking opportunity. A clear vision of how to go about a strategy, and how to sort bottleneck and bloating situations in the daily work routine was made understood only after taking the situation in hand. I feel, that gradually I had developed a mindset that aligned itself towards the business generation for my company. It helped me to find the relevance which was required to connect the dots, intra- departmental and inter-departmental working and understand the working and connectivity to close the task undertaken. The internship has made me look back and see myself as a changed person starting right from my dressing sense, perspective, confidence, communication, and at last a mindset for generating business.

So, for the developments that we incur, we need our mentors/faculties right by our side to help us get through the tests. It is their years of knowledge and experiences which boost us to embark on our journey with a fresh mindset. They push us to achieve the best and help us in discovering our capabilities. I feel fortunate to have my faculties at IBS were always there to aid me in situations where at times, I’d found myself stuck. There around the clock availability had made me use the best of opportunities and prove my skills during my internship. With their presence, I was able to watch my next step and analyze it all with utmost ease.

The internship helped me understand the difference between writing an academic paper and writing a final report, followed by consequences to attain the desired outcome. The experience gave me more motivation and confidence to take up any challenge. There is undoubtedly a massive difference I see in myself before and post my internship program. Understanding the nitty-gritty of functional work to manage and take up decisions to a directional work had made me more aware of the business generation tactics and come at ease with its functionality. I cannot stress enough how important it is to give our best in our internships and be able to deliver our best to the organization. The little positive reinforcements are what made me go forward in my internship with the powerful support and trust entrusted to me by my college. All the hard work done during my internship along with the certification courses undertaken during the internship helps in refine my skills and makes my CV stand out from the rest of the crowd!

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